JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—When Disney makes the movie about the Colts’ season, it can skip Thursday night’s game.

There was nothing historic or heroic or worthy of getting choked up about. Unless you count how Jaguars fans are ready to choke their team.

But in thumping Jacksonville 27-10, Indianapolis showed it doesn’t need Andrew Luck to play like Joe Montana. It can keep its fairytale season going by more mundane means.

Like defense, ball control and mental toughness. You think it’s easy getting up for Jacksonville?

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Luck said.

It would have been easy to lose to the Jags. Okay, not easy. But it was not a totally ridiculous prospect.

The Colts were missing six starters. They were just four days removed from the tear-jerking win over the Dolphins. Luck’s jersey was sent to the Hall of Fame after he set a rookie record with 433 passing yards.

It’s all turned the Colts into America’s Team. A year ago they were 2-14. Now, Luck and skill and barbers and pixie dust have them stepping in a playoff direction.

“We’ve got a really good chance to be really good,” Antoine Bethea said.

At 6-3, you can classify them as pretty good. Their first five wins came by a combined 19 points, so you know they can win the tight games and the games they aren’t supposed to. But could they methodically take an inferior team apart?

Granted, dissecting Jacksonville doesn’t require neurosurgical skill. But the Jaguars’ lone win this year was in Indianapolis. And something strange happens to quarterback Blaine Gabbert when he sees the Colts.

He came in to the game 2-17 against the rest of the NFL, but 3-0 against Indianapolis. So messing up the Colts’ movie was possible, despite what all those fans wearing paper bags over their heads might have thought.

Indianapolis never came close to falling into that trap. They scored on three straight drives in the first half to take a 17-0 lead, then basically turned the game over to Darius Butler and the defense.

Butler picked off Gabbert in the third quarter and returned the ball 11 yards for a touchdown. Butler added an interception and a fumble recovery. His three takeaways matched the entire team total for the year.

“That’s one thing Chuck (Pagano) talked about this week,” said Bruce Arians, who improved to 5-1 as interim head coach. “He said just sit tight and don’t talk about it.”

That may have inspired the defense. What inspired viewers nationwide was the speech.

“You guys are living a vision, not circumstances,” Pagano said on Sunday.

Then he talked about his vision of seeing two daughters get married, and him hoisting the Lombardi Trophy a few times.

Pagano went back to the hospital to begin his second round of chemotherapy. Luck was one the players who shaved for Pagano. That didn't sap his running ability, since he scored on a 5-yard run and a quarterback sneak.

As for his passing, Luck was 18-of-26 for 227 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception. That qualifies as ho-hum, but the Colts weren’t complaining.

They’ve won four games this season with late scoring drives in the fourth quarter or overtime. It was nice to finally kick back and wait for the game to end.

“This was the biggest game to date by far,” Luck said. “It’s nice to be 6-3, but we realize it’s just one step in the journey.”

It’s not the one people will be talking about when the movie is made. Nobody from the Hall of Fame was asking for mementos afterward. But you know Thursday night’s show played well in one Indianapolis hospital room.